Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the trendy keywords and there is a huge variety of companies claiming to be “IoT-companies”. Maybe so but that fact is that very few really know what it is (what it is not). There are many who should know how *their* company should utilise IoT that are not aware of possibilities exiting already today

Here is a practical, real-life example of Industrial IoT. Since long time already, bigger industrial machines (pumps, valves, generators etc) are equipped with sensors and dashboards to know how the machine is behaving. As the cost has been a prohibitive factor, same sensoring and analytics has not been available for the large majority of the mass-market pumps and valves.

HitSeed, a deep-tech company based in Helsinki, is about to change this. It has created a coin-sized battery-powered device with sensors and computing power enabling it to be really smart. So smart that can be programmed to know how the device (such as the pump it is attached to) should behave. This is possible by analysing for example the vibration, sound, power consumption or other physical behaviours of the device. And if this device (it’s called SeedNode) learns that now something is or could be wrong with the device, it sends a message to the server. Also several SeedNodes can be act together to monitor something bigger.

This concept is called “Digital Twin“. What is so revolutionary with SeedNode is the fact that all this computing is actually done on-site. Unlike previous solutions, no wiring or other expensive solutions are needed. Cost level is just a fraction of the previous solutions yet this is much more powerful.

HitSeed’s SeedNode with the Digital Twin concept enables transformation of many industrial service companies to a new era. SeedNode sensors can be installed at every customer site and monitored with the cloud-based dashboard. This enables new business models based on monthly fees, for example. Early detection of any potential faulty device can be very valuable for many businesses as unnecessary business interruptions can be avoided.

When thinking of a complete solution to monitor, analyse and act based on the status, SeedNode is the critical component to make it actually intelligent. SeedNode can be connected to various existing gateway and data cloud solutions, hence making it ideal also for larger industrial companies.